Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

One frightening spiritual fear-driven tale from literary architect / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when unknowns become vehicles in a satanic trial. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of living through and old world terror that will redefine scare flicks this scare season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie feature follows five unknowns who suddenly rise confined in a remote shack under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a ancient holy text monster. Brace yourself to be seized by a big screen event that integrates deep-seated panic with mythic lore, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the entities no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from within. This symbolizes the most sinister aspect of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the tension becomes a merciless contest between innocence and sin.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves isolated under the sinister dominion and control of a shadowy character. As the survivors becomes helpless to reject her manipulation, cut off and tormented by powers impossible to understand, they are obligated to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the timeline coldly ticks toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and relationships crack, requiring each individual to evaluate their true nature and the concept of personal agency itself. The tension accelerate with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into primal fear, an spirit from prehistory, embedding itself in our fears, and wrestling with a curse that peels away humanity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that evolution is haunting because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers internationally can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable descent into hell. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these nightmarish insights about our species.


For featurettes, set experiences, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts blends myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread saturated with scriptural legend and onward to canon extensions plus surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most variegated along with tactically planned year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors lay down anchors with known properties, simultaneously platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays in concert with primordial unease. Meanwhile, independent banners is riding the echoes of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 chiller release year: brand plays, standalone ideas, as well as A packed Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The arriving genre cycle loads at the outset with a January bottleneck, after that stretches through the warm months, and far into the December corridor, braiding marquee clout, inventive spins, and calculated calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and influencer-ready assets that transform these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has proven to be the most reliable lever in release plans, a corner that can expand when it performs and still buffer the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can lead the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and surprise hits. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and critical darlings confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with planned clusters, a combination of known properties and original hooks, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and SVOD.

Planners observe the horror lane now acts as a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can debut on numerous frames, furnish a sharp concept for teasers and vertical videos, and outstrip with audiences that arrive on early shows and continue through the follow-up frame if the entry pays off. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration exhibits assurance in that setup. The slate begins with a crowded January window, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a October build that stretches into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The map also includes the ongoing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and widen at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are working to present connection with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a reframed mood or a casting move that binds a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the top original plays are celebrating in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That mix offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring approach without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an machine companion that turns into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are branded as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror blast that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in historical precision and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video balances library titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, horror hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of precision releases and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not obstruct a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, click to read more auteur craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that pipes the unease through a young child’s shifting POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.